Alcaraz repeated the final in Umag after 2h.55′ against Zeppieri

Carlos Alcarazworld number 5 and defending champion, will repeat this last Sunday at ATP in the land of Umag (Croatia) after 2h.55′ of fighting a fighter Giulio Zeppieri (168th) ended up cramping, a cruel way to end his hard fight against the Spanish tennis player: 7-5, 4-6 and 6 -3. With this victory, the Murcian is sure to move up another step in the rankings on Monday and will now be number 4.

QUE. DOT. 🔥

Alcaraz and Zeppieri are putting on a show in Umag!@CroatiaOpenMorning | #CroatiaOpenMorning pic.twitter.com/87oUw707te

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 30, 2022

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Alcaraz, 19, will play for the title against another Italian, Jannik Sinner (10th), executioner of his countryman Frank Agamemnon (136th) in the other semifinal (6-1, 6-3). This will be the third match between the two, with a split of victories (1-1), the last in favor of Sinner in the round of 16 of Wimbledon.

The unforgiving version of Zeppieri, 20 years old, required a lot of effort and patience from Alcaraz, who gave a new example of his intelligent reading of matches despite his youth. In that sense, Carlos is more like a veteran who has fought a thousand battles than the young man who is just starting out on the circuit.

With a break in the third game, Alcaraz opened the gap in the first set (4-2), but even then the left-handed Zeppieri showed his faith in the surprise and not only chained three consecutive games to return the score. (4-5), but there were three ‘set-balls’ saved by the Murcian with his amazing courage in such tense moments, with three winning shots.

Carlos held serve and then broke the Italian’s serve again to seal the first set in his favor 7-5 after 1h.22′ of the match. At 2-2 in the second set, Alcaraz suffered a nasty sprain to his right ankle, but sought help from the physiotherapist, who bandaged the affected area, and continued to play without noticeable discomfort.

Both players held serve until Zeppieri found reward for his persistence in game 10, when he broke for 4-6 and took the semifinal in the third set.

Undaunted despite the blow received, Alcaraz entered the deciding set at full speed and was 3-0 up and two breaks up, an advantage that seemed certain to seal the victory. However, erre que erre, Zeppieri still had the arrests to level the score by also breaking the Spaniard’s serve twice in a row (3-3).

Suddenly the match became rough again for Carlos, but in the next game the Italian was nailed by cramps and, from then on, he barely scored two more points against an Alcaraz who resolved the situation without stress (6-3 ). Both physical and mental exertion took their toll on Zeppieri, but the Italian showed he was another exponent of ‘next generation’ want to go to war

Zeppieri, a regular on the challenger circuit, arrived in Umag without winning any of his four ATP major draws, but left Croatia with his first three wins (Cachín, Galan, Zapata) and many morals to face new challenges.

For his part, Alcaraz continues to shine during his thunderous emergence and will play his sixth final of 2022, having won the first four of river, Miami, Barcelona Y Madridand lost the last one on Sunday in hamburgin the view of Lorenzo Musettiso far the only one to have surpassed him in an ATP final.

The Murcian premiered his record in Umag’2021 and is looking to reaffirm the crown to add his sixth title. This year he has 27 wins in 30 matches on clay and an overall balance of 42-6.